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I've recently started working at <an awesome> food consulting company a few months ago - working on the branding team. It's been a sweet mashup of my love of food and design. One of the perks is that I have a kickass source for anything food-related: my coworkers! They're a wealth of knowledge, not surprisingly, as most of them are food scientists for crying out loud! When I'm in need of inspiration or ideas on what to bake, they have an answer for me in 2.2. It's rad.

I needed a solid low-maintenance cookie recipe the other day, and my coworker with her Brown Butter Salted Caramel Snickerdoodles recipe came through for me. As soon as she said the magic words: "brown butter" it was game over. Brown butter is my boy! I also love me some 'doodles and desserts stuffed with more dessert.

Friends, it's time to up your Snickerdoodle game. Lets do this.

Note: This cookie can be stuffed with store-bought candy caramels or with homemade caramel if you're feeling like a baller.

Brown Butter Salted Caramel Snickerdoodles
Recipe from twopeasandtheirpod.com
Yield: about 3 dozen cookies

Ingredients
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup unsalted butter, sliced
1 1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon plain Greek yogurt
About 1 cup caramel squares, cut into 1/4’s

For Baller-Style Caramel
Note: you're going to have a good amount leftover. Thoughts? Wrap individual pieces in waxed paper and you've got yourself some chewy caramel candies. Boom.
1/2 cup butter or margarine
8oz light brown sugar
7 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1 pinch salt
3/4 teaspoons vanilla extract

For Rolling the Cookies:
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Sea salt, for sprinkling on top of cookies

Directions
For the Cookies
1. In a medium bowl, Whisk together the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.
2. To brown the butter, heat a thick-bottomed skillet on medium heat. Add the sliced butter, whisking frequently. Continue to cook the butter until melted. The butter will start to foam and browned specks will begin to form at the bottom of the pan. The butter should have a nutty aroma. Watch the butter carefully because it can go from brown to burnt quickly. Remove butter from the heat and let cool to room temperature.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the brown butter and sugars. Mix until blended and smooth. Beat in the egg, yolk, vanilla, and yogurt and mix until combined. Slowly add in the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.
4. Form the dough in a ball and cover with plastic wrap. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. You can chill the dough overnight.
5. When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Measure about 2 tablespoons of dough and roll into balls. Flatten the ball with the palm of your hand and place a piece of caramel in the center of the dough. Wrap the cookie dough around the caramel, making sure the caramel is completely covered with dough.
6. In a small bowl, combine the cinnamon and sugar. Roll the balls in the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Place dough balls on a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Make sure the cookies are about 2 inches apart. Sprinkle the cookie tops generously with sea salt.
7. Bake the cookies 8-10 minutes or until the edges of the cookies begin to turn golden brown. The centers will still be soft. Cool the cookies on the baking sheet for 2-3 minutes, or until set. Transfer cookies to a wire cooling rack and cool completely.

For the Homemade Caramel
1. In a heavy bottomed saucepan over medium heat, combine the butter, brown sugar, sweetened condensed milk, corn syrup and salt.
2. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Heat to between 234 and 240 degrees F (112 to 116 degrees C), or until a small amount of syrup dropped into cold water forms a soft ball that flattens when removed from the water and placed on a flat surface.
3. Cook for 2 minutes at that temperature. Remove from the heat and stir in vanilla.
4. Meanwhile, butter a baking pan. When the caramel is ready, pour into the buttered pan. Allow to cool completely at room temperature.
5. Remove from the pan before cutting into squares.

I've never made a banana dessert before, not counting breads and muffins of course. I'm typically drawn to chocolate anything before fruity numbers. Side-note: lets be clear friends, breads and muffins are snacks, most definitely not desserts. The only exception is a chocolate chocolate muffin, i.e. Costco's GIANT Double Chocolate Chip Muffins. 12 pack. Buy it and thank me later.

I digress. A few years ago, I went to NYC's famous Magnolia Bakery to sample their cupcakes. Apparently, I should have gotten their banana pudding too- people go cray for it. Since I won't be back to Mag's bakery anytime soon and banana's peak season is now (who knew?), I gave their recipe a go. It comes from their new cookbook, but I used the same recipe from this lovely blog, which has ridiculously delicious looking pictures of the dessert. Also, home girl took it up a notch by adding a salted caramel topper <fist-bump> which pairs perfectly with the pudding. Well played.

Aren't these (Bonne Maman) jars just so darn cute? Props to my coworker for giving me the idea of using these for desserts (and cocktails)!

Few things to note:
1. PLAN AHEAD when you're going to make this! It's a really straight-forward recipe, mostly fast except for the portions when you have to let it sit in the fridge for several hours. The easiest solution for me was to make the caramel and first part of the pudding recipe the night before, plop it in the fridge and finish it up in the AM, planning the serve it that evening.
2. The caramel does not need to be refrigerated - it thickens at room temperature.
3. This caramel recipe will make much more than you need for the pudding... but you will not be upset about it. Trust me, you'll find use for it.

Va bene? Va bene.

Magnolia Bakery's Banana Pudding with Salted Caramel
Recipe from The Complete Magnolia Bakery Cookbook & ringfingertanline.com

Ingredients – Pudding
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1½ cups cold water
1 (3.4-ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix
3 cups heavy cream
1 (12-ounce) box Nabisco Nilla Wafers
4 cups sliced ripe bananas

Ingredients – Caramel
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/3 cup water
1 1/4 cups heavy cream, warmed
3 tsp fleur de sel (Pro Tip: I only used 2 tsp which was plenty salty)

Directions – Pudding
1. In a medium-sized bowl, beat sweetened condensed milk and water for about a minute. Add the pudding mix and beat for about two more minutes.
2. Transfer to a smaller bowl, cover, and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.
3. In a large bowl on medium speed, whip the heavy cream until stiff peaks form. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold in the pudding mixture until combined.
4. In a large bowl, layer wafers, bananas, and pudding. (Pro Tip: I started off with a small scoop of the pudding at the bottom.) Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 8 hours before serving.

Directions – Caramel
1. Combine the sugar and 1/3 cup water in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan. This is the only time you can stir the sugar. If you stir it while it's cooking, it turns to rock candy. Place the saucepan over medium to low heat until the sugars start to dissolve, 5 to 10 minutes. Then turn the heat up to medium-high and cook until the sugar starts to caramelize, 5 to 7 minutes (Pro Tip: this took me more like 9 mins). Do not stir while this is happening. You've got to watch the pot, because it goes from caramel to burnt really quickly. And be careful, the mixture is extremely hot!
2. Turn off the heat and stand back to avoid splattering. Slowly add the cream. Don't panic - the cream will bubble violently, and the caramel will solidify. Just give it more time to liquefy again-trust me!
3. Simmer over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until the caramel dissolves and the sauce is smooth, about 2 minutes. Pro Tip: if your caramel is too liquidity (mine was 5/6 times I've made this), simmer over medium-low heat for 5-10 minutes. It's not a bad idea to do this regardless for 5 mins, just to be safe.
4. Allow the sauce to cool to room temperature, at least 4 hours. It will thicken as it sits. Stir in salt. Pro Tip: I transferred mine to a container after 2 hrs, it was cool enough.

Dessert Fiend